Robert J. Wilke

Known for ActingBorn 1914-05-18Died 1989-03-28Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Prolific American character actor of primarily villainous roles. The son of German parents, Cincinnati feed-store manager August Wilke and his wife Rose, Robert Joseph Wilke grew up in Cincinnati. He worked as a lifeguard at a Miami, Florida, hotel, where he made contacts in the film business. He was able to obtain work as a stuntman and continued as such until the mid-'40s, when he began getting actual roles in low-budget westerns and serials. A prominent appearance as one of the heavies in Le train sifflera trois fois (1952) led to work in higher-quality films. He worked extensively in television as well as movies, and became an enormously familiar face, though a fairly anonymous one to the general public. His weathered visage made him a perfect western bad guy, but he occasionally played sympathetic parts as well, as in Les moissons du ciel (1978). An expert golfer, he was said by his friend Claude Akins to have earned more money on the golf course than he ever did in movies. He died in 1989. -Read more

Movies & web series

Two Guns and a Badge

Coyote Canyon

The Beachcomber

The Maverick

Outcasts of Black Mesa

Corpus Christi Bandits

Bordertown Trail

Sheriff of Sundown

Never Steal Anything Small

The Untouchables

Carson City Raiders

Passkey to Danger

Sheriff of Cimarron

San Antonio Kid

Hidden Valley Outlaws

Vigilantes of Dodge City

The Wonderful World of Disney

Kung Fu

Perry Mason

Days of Heaven

The Wild Wild West

High Noon

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Thin Man

Cattle Town

Bonanza

Spartacus

The Magnificent Seven

The Walter Winchell File

Zorro

Starsky & Hutch

The Fugitive

Law of the Plainsman

Grand Ole Opry

Have Gun, Will Travel

From Here to Eternity

Rawhide

Wild and Wooly

The Third Man

Overland Telegraph

Saddle Legion

White Tie and Tails

The Lucy Show

How the West Was Won

The Rookies

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

The Abbott and Costello Show

77 Sunset Strip